AI, Not AI: Riding the Hype Cycle – Episode 45

Agents at the Peak, Humans in the Loop: Navigating the AI Hype Cycle

Every week brings another “breakthrough” headline—agent modes, study modes, version bumps—and it’s getting harder to tell hype from progress. In this new Modem Futura episode, we take a candid, summer‑mode breather to map where AI really sits on the Gartner Hype Cycle, what open‑weight releases mean for builders, and how to keep the human voice intact when co‑authoring with machines. (Yes, we tried not to talk about AI…and failed—because it’s interwoven into every aspect of human activity now.)

What open weights really unlock

Setting aside the current drama around GPT-5, recent open‑weight releases under permissive licenses are a quiet game‑changer. OpenAI has released a pair of open‑weight models (120B & 20B) under Apache‑2.0 license that you can download from Huggingface. Translation: you can download models, run them locally, and adapt them for your own needs—no cloud required (except o download). With capable personal computers (think Apple’s M‑series) or home-built rigs GneAI LLMs can be run locally on device, and as hardware capacity increases and the sophistication of the models improves, the barrier to entry keeps dropping. The reason this matters is that it enables “garage‑scale” innovation—students, labs, startups, and curious tinkerers can now build for their own unique (or weird), local needs rather than waiting for a platform update.

Writing with AI—and protecting the voice

We also dig into human‑AI co‑authoring. Andrew shares a writer’s perspective—AI can draft moving, polished prose, but a subtle sameness creeps in. The fix isn’t anti‑AI; it’s pro‑craft: re‑introduce your “tells,” rhythm, and variance so readers feel a human mind at work. Think editorial sculpture—chipping away until the voice has texture and life. When even an AI editor flags your draft as “too consistent,” it’s a nudge to put the messiness back in. This is what happens when the pendulum swings too far to one side (perfect AI generated prose) the reader craves authenticity and “style” to which we need to introduce our human-touch back into the machine.

So…where are we on the Hype Cycle?
Whether you’re looking to learn how to interpret this powerful model (tool) or just get some new band name ideas, we explain the curve (innovation trigger → peak of inflated expectations → trough of disillusionment → slope of enlightenment → plateau of productivity) and why agentic AI feels perched at the peak, while day‑to‑day generative AIis edging into the trough—not because it’s useless, but because the shine (over hyped exaggerated claims of impact) wears off and the real work begins (just look at the backlash from GPT-5). Layer in the diffusion‑of‑innovation model and you’ll see different communities (VCs, educators, enterprises) living on different parts of the curve at the same time.

Image source: pasqal.com

Image source: Gartner

Beyond screens: ambient intelligence

We explore the exciting space of spatial/ambient computing and sensing (I even got to briefly mention LANs, WANs, and PANs)—environments saturated with signals (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, NFC) that AIs can interpret in ways we can’t. It raises the question of what happens when machines can interpret the data‑saturated world beyond our comprehension and act within it? That’s where “AI‑not‑AI” lives: less chatbot magic, more embedded intelligence shaping everyday environments. That’s both exciting and unsettling: it demands new conversations about design, privacy, agency, and the futures we actually want to build.

If it resonates, help broaden the conversation: subscribe, share with a colleague, and tell us where you place AI on the Hype Cycle—and where you’re craving more human messiness. As we joked in‑studio, Modem Futura is “on the slope of enlightenment—accepting social investment via ratings and reviews

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/47mypmb

📺 Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura

If you’d like to dive deeper, jump into the link and listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube video. Join us as we explore the forces shaping our collective future and the urgent need to keep human values at the heart of innovation.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/47mypmb

🎧 Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ReAdtrV7o8WfxeZ0vaKH9?si=dGnDFD03QiW9A3UiUStEEg

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/cfHqBJKnGZo

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

Show Me the Receipts: the Futures of AI Super-intelligence – Episode 44

Superintelligence “In Sight”? Cutting Through Hype to Keep Humans in the Loop

If you’ve felt whiplash from this summer’s AI headlines, you’re not alone. In our latest episode of Modem Futura, we unpack Big Tech’s bolder‑than‑bold claim that “developing superintelligence is now in sight”—and ask for something simple before we all sprint into the future: receipts. We break down what companies are signaling when they talk about AI systems that “improve themselves,” why that sounds momentous, and where the marketing ends and the evidence begins.

First, definitions that matter. Today’s tools remain narrow—powerful, yes, but specialized. AGI is the hypothetical jump to general capability; superintelligence (ASI) is the further leap beyond any human capability. We explore why those terms are often moved like goalposts, and why declaring ASI “near” without a stable definition confuses the public, policymakers, and practitioners alike, and from my perspective is irresponsible.

Then we zoom into a practical pain point: reliability. When platforms silently change models, tools, or defaults, workflows break (hello GPT-5). In education and professional settings, that unpredictability isn’t just irritating—it’s costly. We share real examples (from transcripts labeled with the wrong speakers to model behavior shifting overnight) and discuss what “enterprise‑grade” should mean for LLMs people depend on.

We also play with the upside—digital twins and imaginative design. If a campus has a high‑fidelity digital twin, why stop at mirroring reality? Why not prototype preferable futures—safer, more inclusive, more sustainable spaces—and test them before we build? Of course, reliability matters there too; when operational systems depend on simulations, unintended tweaks can ripple into the real world.

Across the hour, we push back on technological solutionism—the reflex to cast AI as the single answer to complex, “wicked” problems. Yes, we’re excited about AI’s potential; no, it won’t magically resolve conflict, poverty, or disease without broader social, economic, and political work. Framing ASI as our only lifeboat risks narrowing our imaginations right when we need them most.

Ultimately, we return to our favorite question: What does it mean to be human when machines can emulate so much of what we do? For us, that means staying curious and critical, inviting more diverse perspectives into the conversation, and insisting on transparent claims we can evaluate—before ceding agency to systems we don’t fully understand.

If this episode gave you a useful lens on the AI noise, share it with a colleague, drop a comment with the boldest AI claim you’ve heard and the evidence that would convince you, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/41Ayf6J

📺 Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura

If you’d like to dive deeper, jump into the link and listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube video. Join us as we explore the forces shaping our collective future and the urgent need to keep human values at the heart of innovation.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/41Ayf6J

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0o1vePcG8wh2VmMtETRKjy?si=Fu0xyDEkSHKB-R3gkKKWoQ

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/XO9dLoYhIvY

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

Summer School with AI: Rethinking Learning in the Age of GPT – Episode 41

Summer School with AI: Why “Back to Basics” Isn’t Enough

Why this episode matters? If you’re charting strategy for schools, workforce development or lifelong learning, this discussion offers a candid roadmap—and a few provocative questions—for navigating the next decade of educational transformation.

This month on Modem Futura I welcomed Rachna Mathur, Ed.D. —engineer, artist, lifelong-learner and Senior STEM Strategist at ASU Preparatory Academy—to a scorching‑hot Arizona studio for a free‑flowing “summer session” on the future of learning in the age of generative AI.

Our conversation touches on many aspects of learning and AI, but laser in on the implications of living the “digital world” for learning, partially inspired from the headline that shocked many educators: Sweden’s decision to pull back from screens and re‑embrace handwriting and printed books after seeing declines in comprehension and critical‑thinking benchmarks. We explore the move as an important—but incomplete—signal. We arguee that the real challenge is finding a sustainable balance between analog depth and digital acceleration, not retreating wholesale from technology, and not leaning into a pure technological solution just for technologies sake.

The theme of moderation threads the entire episode. We swap Montessori childhood stories—self‑directed, community‑anchored, and surprisingly common among tech leaders—before examining how that philosophy might translate to AI‑rich classrooms where personalization risks isolation if community norms aren’t protected.

We then fast‑forward 50 years to imagine two stark futures: a post‑scarcity Star‑Trek‑style society of flourishing creativity, or the WALL‑E “hover‑chair” dystopia where humans outsource thinking, writing and even curiosity to autonomous agents. In both scenarios, today’s policy and design choices in K‑12 systems carve the path. Should we double‑down on foundational literacies—or teach students how to audit machine output for bias, hallucination and relevance?

We highlight the rising cognitive load on teachers, who are expected to master every “shiny new doodad” while still wearing a dozen other hats. We discuss realistic guardrails: cell‑phone moderation policies; AI readers that empower dyslexic learners; and iterative, living guidelines that evolve alongside the tech itself rather than one‑and‑done declarations.

Finally, we confront the looming content‑collapse problem (the recursive nightmare that may be building right in front of us): models now train on data increasingly generated by other models, a self‑referential “snake eating its own tail” that threatens originality and human perspective. Our shared conclusion? Educators, parents and technologists must collaborate on a middle path that preserves human agency, cultivates critical judgment, and leverages AI as an amplifier—not a crutch.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4o6LwOc

📺 Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura

If you’d like to dive deeper, jump into the link and listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube video. Join us as we explore the forces shaping our collective future and the urgent need to keep human values at the heart of innovation.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4o6LwOc

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1E9LMkkOTYvTJVwlb6Ey0F?si=ADMbNGEWSUW-Jdx-h0oBsA

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/cvxHCJxahlg

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

Future Vibes: Sean & Andrew’s 2025 Summer Reading List – Episode 38

Sunshine, iced coffee, and a stack of books bigger than your carry-on: the Modem Futura crew is officially in vacation mode. In this episode, Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard trade their usual policy briefs for paperbacks, audiobooks, and a little healthy banter while curating a futurist-friendly “summer reading list.” Why fiction? Because, as Sean argues, big ideas often hide between star-ship battles and dinosaur breakouts, not only in white papers. Andrew adds that speculative worlds give us a safe sandbox to test tomorrow’s ethics—and besides, nothing pairs with sunscreen like a good apocalypse.

The conversation starts with how we read. Sean confesses he’s deep into audiobooks (pro-tip: narrator chemistry matters as much as plot), while Andrew waxes nostalgic about radio dramas and the duo laments that loss of an old art form of pure radio-plays or dramas and the power of sound-only storytelling.

Then come the picks. Sean’s pile skews toward propulsive series that open up worlds of emergent tech and moral quandaries: Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries, Hugh Howey’s silo trilogy (Wool, Shift, Dust), Dennis E. Taylor’s clone-happy We Are Legion (We Are Bob), and John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. Classics make the cut too: Stanisław Lem’s mind-bending Solaris, Michael Crichton’s bio-engineering cautionary tale Jurassic Park, Douglas Adams’ irreverent Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and the heaven-hell hijinks of Pratchett & Gaiman’s Good Omens. Andrew arrives armed with literary wit and social sci-fi: Julie Schumacher’s academic farce Dear Committee Members, John Wyndham’s climate-chaos thriller The Kraken Wakes, Iain M. Banks’ cosmic intrigue in The Algebraist, Kai-Fu Lee & Chen Qiufan’s foresight anthology AI 2041, and a nostalgic return to childhood wonder with Swallows and Amazons and its sequel Swallowdale.

Sean and Andrew dig into why these stories matter now. Themes of sentient automation (Murderbot), post-climate survival (Wool), and multiverse governance (Bobiverse) echo real-world debates on AI alignment, geo-engineering, and planetary stewardship. They unpack adaptation hits and misses—Apple TV+’s Silo nails the bunker vibe; will Amazon’s forthcoming Murderbot capture SecUnit’s dry humor?—and argue that every futurist needs a dose of imaginative empathy before writing the next policy memo or paper.

Grab your earbuds, e-reader, or dog-eared paperback and join the conversation. After listening, hit reply or tag #ModemFutura to share the titles you’ll be packing—because the future is a story we’re all still writing.

Sean's Picks:

• The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells [Amazon]

• Silo (Series) Wool (book 1) by Hugh Howey [Amazon]

• Jurassic Park: A Novel by Michael Crichton [Amazon]

• Solaris by Stanislaw Lem [Amazon] 

• Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman [Amazon] 

• Bobiverse (We are Legion) series by Dennis E. Taylor [Amazon]

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle [Amazon]

• Old Man's War by John Scalzi [Amazon] 

• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams [Amazon]

Andrew's Picks:

• Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher [Amazon] 

• The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham [Amazon]

• Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome [Amazon second hand] (this one can be hard to find)

• The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks [Amazon]

• AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan [Amazon]

If you’d like to dive deeper, jump into the link and listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube video. Join us as we explore the forces shaping our collective future and the urgent need to keep human values at the heart of innovation.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4kkcvCC

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0cTCZZfLHR1sIYcHsd85bt?si=5adaec8264b74cc1

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/KnmMw4Nb3dM

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

Futures of Learning: AI in Education with Punya Mishra – Episode 33

Friction Required: How will a world transformed by emerging technologies like AI reshape the world? Sean Leahy,Andrew Maynard and special guest Punya Mishra cut through the hype to reveal the creative tension, hidden risks, and big-picture futures for AI-powered, human-centered education. How can the power of AI be harnessed without losing the soul of learning?

Friction Required: Re-imagining Learning in an AI World

Generative AI burst onto campuses promising personalized tutoring, instant lesson plans, and anytime feedback. Yet beneath the buzz lies a more provocative question: What, exactly, makes education worth the effort once answers are a prompt away? In this week’s Modem Futura, hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard sit down with educator-innovatorDr. Punya Mishra to look past the shiny tools and into the messy, human heart of learning.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3ZDH8vg

📺 Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura

Over an energetic hour they explore why purposeful “friction”—the struggle, inquiry, and face-to-face negotiation of meaning—is still essential. Punya and Sean draw on John Dewey’s four impulses—Inquiry, Communication, Construction, Expression—as a compass for designing AI-infused classrooms that amplify (rather than automate) these deep-learning moments. The trio swap stories of chatbots that spark creativity, debate whether banning tools curbs cheating or curiosity, and ask whether transparency beats top-down rules when it comes to academic integrity.

But the conversation zooms further out. What happens when large language models become persuasive co-teachers? Could Universal Basic Income turn learning into a lifelong pursuit instead of a credentialing race? And might universities act as society’s “flywheel”—a deliberate drag that buys time to think before technology rewrites the rules? The answers aren’t neat, yet they underscore a shared conviction: the future of education must be AI-powered and human-centered.

Key Takeaways

• Friction is a feature, not a bug. Struggle fosters agency, resilience, and creativity—qualities that instant answers risk eroding.

• Design for Dewey’s impulses. Use AI to scaffold inquiry, amplify student expression, and make thinking visible, not to short-circuit it.

• Radical transparency > blanket bans. Open dialog about capabilities, limitations, and ethics beats whack-a-mole policies.

• Cheating vs. caring. Focus on cultivating authentic motivation; surveillance tech alone can’t fix a trust gap.

• Universities as sandboxes and speed-bumps. Higher ed can prototype responsible uses and slow premature adoption that harms society.

Whether you’re an instructor drafting next semester’s syllabus, a student exploring new creative tools, or a policymaker worried about the automation of learning, this episode offers frameworks—and questions—to keep humans at the center of the AI revolution.

🎧 Ready for the full conversation? Click below to listen or watch, then let us know how you’re embracing (or resisting) AI in your own learning spaces. And if the discussion sparks ideas, consider sharing this newsletter with a colleague—friction loves company!

If you’d like to dive deeper, jump into the link and listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube video. Join us as we explore the forces shaping our collective future and the urgent need to keep human values at the heart of innovation.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Podcast: https://apple.co/3ZDH8vg

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura

Symbiotic Futures: Megatrends, Foresight, and Futures Thinking – Episode 31

From flying with an Apple Vision Pro to confronting an Iberian peninsula‑wide blackout, Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard unpack the Future Days “symbiotic futures” summit and discuss how the futures of emerging real‑world tech adventures (and mishaps) expose the urgency of futures thinking and strategic foresight—and share the need for awareness of megatrends, staying resilient, and keeping humanity front‑and‑center in an increasingly tangled digital world.

Trans-Atlantic red-eyes are rarely inspiring, yet this one kicked off our latest Modem Futura episode in style: Sean stuffed his Apple Vision Pro into his carry-on and discovered that row 24G can double as a multi-monitor studio—until a flight attendant tapped his shoulder and yanked him out of an AR-powered “flow state.” That jolt proved prophetic: given he landed in Lisbon just hours after a massive blackout had plunged Spain, Portugal, and parts of France into darkness, spotlighting just how fragile our techno-social infrastructures really are.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/45kz9XI

📺 Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura

In this episode we unpack three intertwined themes: resilience, mindfulness, and strategic foresight. The Iberian outage becomes a live case study in cascading failure: digital payments, automated check-outs, ride-hailing apps—nothing works when the grid goes down. Yet crises like these also catalyze community; neighbors emerge with guitars and flashlights, rediscovering analog bonds that tech so often displaces.

From there we jump to Lisbon’s Future Days conference (the reason Sean was in Lisbon), whose “Symbiotic Futures” theme asked participants—from UN Futures Lab, UK Ministry of Justice, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, and many many more including analysts to indie designers—how humans and systems can co-evolve without erasing one another. One clear takeaway: “futures thinking” isn’t a niche job description; it’s a competency every profession now needs. By scanning megatrends—those climate, geopolitical, and technological forces that reshape the next 10-15 years—we build the agility to thrive amid volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) volatility.

But preparedness requires cognitive breathing room, and that’s where the Dutch concept of Niksen—“the art of doing nothing”—enters the chat. Slowing down isn’t a luxury; it’s a strategy that lets us question which tools genuinely advance human flourishing and which merely accelerate the attention treadmill.

Throughout, we circle back to a simple call: if you value conversations that blend tech realism with human-centered optimism, rate and review Modem Futura. Every star elevates the show in Apple Podcasts’ algorithms and helps new listeners discover our global community.

If you’d like to dive deeper, jump into the link and listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube video. Join us as we explore the forces shaping our collective future and the urgent need to keep human values at the heart of innovation.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on your favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Podcast: https://apple.co/45kz9XI

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura